Br. Peter

As most of you know my brother Jesse no longer lives in the U.S. but in Italy studying to become a monk. This past week he took his Simple Vows and took a new monastic name of Br. Peter. My parents were lucky enough to be able to visit for this occasion and here is my Dad’s account of the trip:

Hi Everyone,

We headed over last Saturday to attend Jesse’s reading of his Vow Chart.

We arrived Sunday morning; 2 hrs flight time to Atlanta and another 9 hrs to Rome, then a 2 hr drive to Norcia in the mountains, left us pretty beat. There was a soccer tournament in town and all the hotels were booked solid, so we stayed with the Poor Claire’s. The nun’s have a section of their convent that they use as a bed & breakfast. Its simple, but they can really cook! Jesse had a chance to spend a bit of time with us between Vespers and Compline, so we took a walk outside the walls of the town and through the marshes. The sky was such a deep blue and the hills on all sides were tall green pastures or forest lands. Jesse is re-reading LOTR and says it reminds him of Rohan. Its truly a beautiful place.

We attended Vespers and Compline most of the days that we were there. These are short periods of prayer, 20-30 minutes, where the monks gather in the crypt below the basilica. They sing psalms, hymns, and prayers, all in Latin, ala Gregorian Chant. Since it was Sunday, we also had Eucharistic Adoration.

They have made a singer out of my son. There is nothing like this old setting with such deep strong voices singing out. It harkens me back to the pre-Vatican II days when the priest would sing at high masses. My Latin and Italian are quite weak, but not Jesse and even Noel was starting to have successes. “Et Cum Spiritu tuo”, is about my limit. All in all the effect is quite spiritual and wonderfully refreshing.

Monday morning, before the altar at mass, Jesse and another novice, Jeffery, took Simple Vows, which they chanted to their community of brothers. They had previously drawn them up on parchment, adding as much artwork and color as they chose, just like the ancient texts the monks of old would transcribe.

My son’s new name is Brother Peter.

We feasted right afterwards, which is something special for monks, since they rarely eat meat at any other time. Br. Peter had a guest from Rome that came up after we went to bed the night before. Paul Kocher is a friend of his from our parish studying for the priesthood in Rome. He is one of several that were in the same youth group together.

Tuesday we headed for the hills. Actually, Br. Peter took us over the mountains to the east of Norcia to the town of Casteluccio (aka Edoras). We skirted fields of their famous lentils. We met several stocky horses along the way, not the prissy kind we ride at the stables. They look like a Viking would be comfortable taking one into battle. There were several flocks of sheep grazing on the hills about town. We parked in town and headed to the top, on a bright sunny morning.

It took us around 2 hours out and just over half that coming back. Going up we weren’t in any hurry, but coming down we were very motivated. Let me explain. This started out as an activity that was secondary to spending time with our son. We were enjoying being outside, exercising the jet-lag out of our systems and catching up with each other on the ten months between visits.

Well, 3 quarters of the way up to the peak we notice the beautiful clouds filling the sky. Soon we could feel the wind really pick up, just as we hit the top of the ridge, “30 minutes from the summit.” Part of our party decided to hunker down out of the wind and let us finish off the hike to the cross at the top of Monte Patino.

We carried on for another 5 to 10 minutes and the clouds completely covered us and the trail. I had a visor on and the top of my head was getting crunchy from the moisture turning to ice. We decided that we could make the top on the next trip, one that I was not wearing shorts on.

It was a good thing too. We stopped for lunch on the way down, in a protected area under trees with twisted-multi trunks. We ate cheese and prosciutto sandwiches, chips and fruit. Thunder, lightning and rain started up next. Just about the time we were beginning to feel sorry for ourselves, we found out why we were there at that time. Up the trail came a couple living in London, out for a hike on their holiday. We all tried to communicate in Italian, about the map they had in their hands, finally frustrated they asked if we spoke English. We had a chuckle over that.

It seems that they misread the map and were trying to get back to town by going up the hill we just came down. It took a little bit of convincing, but we finally assured them that the two new monks had been there before and that although they were American, they really did know their way around this part of Italy.

The hot tea in the local diner was just what we needed to warm our rain soaked skins. The rest of the week was much cooler than what we had earlier.

Wednesday we lit out for Assisi. We toured the huge basilica built over the top of the original little chapel that St Francis and his followers worshipped in. We knelt in the tiny seats like the ones used ages before by the friars. Next we trooped up the side of the hill to the monastery and past olive groves to the walls around the town there.

That basilica has three levels. First is like any large church. Its interior walls were covered in frescos, in various states of restoration. The two-three story tall windows were all stained glass. The pews and the altar were what you would expect, but the choir seats were special. They were almost like tall skinny thrones. The second level down was single story that looked to be huge version of Br. Peter’s crypt, probably used for the same purpose of singing the Office. The third level down was where St. Francis and his original followers are entombed.

We left the next day at 4:45 am and got to Rome about 7:15. The flight time west took an extra hour to cross the Atlantic. Noel and I got back from Italy 22 hours after we got up, but still on Thursday. Unfortunately, we had to leave our Monk behind.

However, he gets to visit us in 9 short days! Well time to end this tome.

God Bless, from Texas,

Hub